Coin shooting clad, recommended public places? court house permissions?

Toecutter

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Nov 30, 2018
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Where i live is some what scares on old site to hit for relics, so im starting to lean tords getting lots of clad usually its my daughter and i and she likes coins and gold lol and isint to interested in relics like me, we hit alot of obvious places one place that is always fun is where the city dumps their snow...

Where do you find lots of clad?

I recently looked into detecting the local court house and only answer i got was " i think that needs to go through the board", is this the same answer everyone gets?
 

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If you're looking for modern coins, parks, schools, playgrounds, sports fields, and beaches are usually your best bet. If any of them are privately owned, get permission. If they're a government owned property, look up the rules yourself. I don't recommend asking bureaucrats for permission. Many times they don't know the actual law, and they just answer what is easiest for them.......and that's usually no. The rules for that particular site will be written down somewhere (usually the courthouse), sometimes they're accessible online. Look it up yourself for the straight scoop.
 

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In my area there are quite a few lakes. I recently learned that a number of them used to have resorts dating back to the early 1900s. Many of these old resort sites are now parks or other public access areas. This lets me go after both modern targets such as clad & jewelry as well as the occasional wheat penny, silver dime/quarter and IHP. Every now and then an old relic will show up: buttons, padlocks, shotgun shell head stamps, tax tokens, etc
 

For coins...Schools are a good place to start. Ive taken people there to get used to signals and understanding the machine. Its a great place for newbies to practice out their swinging skills
 

For coins...Schools are a good place to start. Ive taken people there to get used to signals and understanding the machine. Its a great place for newbies to practice out their swinging skills

Another clad “shooting gallery” I’ve found is hiking trail gravel parking lots. Hunt where the average car door would open.
 

In my area there are quite a few lakes. I recently learned that a number of them used to have resorts dating back to the early 1900s. Many of these old resort sites are now parks or other public access areas. This lets me go after both modern targets such as clad & jewelry as well as the occasional wheat penny, silver dime/quarter and IHP. Every now and then an old relic will show up: buttons, padlocks, shotgun shell head stamps, tax tokens, etc

That sounds exactly like my area, no resorts but those are the same finds we get..
 

That sounds exactly like my area, no resorts but those are the same finds we get..

Are you hunting the water? You may already do this, but I’ve found the cooler, older stuff tends to show up in the areas outside of the established swimming zone.

One of my spots has a pier that goes out into the lake, one side is the swimming area, the other is just the lake. The swim zone side rarely has cool stuff, the other side has given up barbers, wheats, silver Rosie’s, and other interesting stuff.
 

We have a river that runs through town Iv done a little detecting around and in the river always find neat things down their, Im going to focused on water detecting next summer.....
 

One of my best clad honey holes is a small 30 year old park in a small town that has no traffic lights or stores. They hold a 4th of july picnic in this small 2.5 acre park every year for 30 years. It was a virgin site that was once part of a farmers field. I dug almost $250 in clad from there one summer. I gridded it in 3 directions and pulled about 99% of the clad from that place my first year detecting. I have it every school and park on the map in a 40 square mile area. I recommend you do the sidelines of soccer fields and when you hit baseball fields I find most of the clad is past the dug outs where people sit in their lawn chairs to watch their kids and grand children play ball. Slacks are known to let change roll out when you are sitting. Read up on local history at your library and see where circuses set up back in the day. Fair grounds are also a great source for clad, especially where the midways are set up and where the rides are normally set up.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting

PS: at a normal site I average about $1.50 to $2 an hour but I have had a few sites where I had no problem digging $6 - $8 an hour, they were just that clad infested.
 

One of my best clad honey holes is a small 30 year old park in a small town that has no traffic lights or stores. They hold a 4th of july picnic in this small 2.5 acre park every year for 30 years. It was a virgin site that was once part of a farmers field. I dug almost $250 in clad from there one summer. I gridded it in 3 directions and pulled about 99% of the clad from that place my first year detecting. I have it every school and park on the map in a 40 square mile area. I recommend you do the sidelines of soccer fields and when you hit baseball fields I find most of the clad is past the dug outs where people sit in their lawn chairs to watch their kids and grand children play ball. Slacks are known to let change roll out when you are sitting. Read up on local history at your library and see where circuses set up back in the day. Fair grounds are also a great source for clad, especially where the midways are set up and where the rides are normally set up.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting

PS: at a normal site I average about $1.50 to $2 an hour but I have had a few sites where I had no problem digging $6 - $8 an hour, they were just that clad infested.

Kevin, you single handedly helped raise the minimum wage! Lol.
 

Sports fields are usually good, and if you find a virgin one, which is hard in populated areas, it will give up a pocket full of clad for many outings to come. Under the bleachers, near the concession, and anywhere pickup games of football or other sports are allowed are played, because people dive for balls, get tackled, etc. And change, jewelry, etc goes flying. I have found 4 quarters in one hole before on a sports field, and i have found things as old as v nickels, Mercury, barber, and Rosie's that are silver. Jewelry as well. You can really learn your detector at a good sports field that hasn't been hunted to death. And it's a lot of area to cover, which will keep you going back for a long time if you find a good one.

Best time to hunt on these fields is when the weather is not so good for others to be on them. I like to hunt on cool gray days. I have the field to myself on days such as this.
 

Pretty much everywhere I was going to suggest has already been listed. Always try to get permission on public land first. Good luck and happy hunting.
 

.... I recently looked into detecting the local court house and only answer i got was " i think that needs to go through the board", is this the same answer everyone gets?

You mean the parks that often time surround the courthouse buildings ? I hunt those wherever I go to, and I never ask permission. I just treat them like any other public park. And if there were nothing saying "no md'ing" (that I look up FOR MYSELF), then ... presto, it's not disallowed.

The moment you think you need to ask, you're risking bumping to the "no one cared TILL you asked" psychology.

..... Always try to get permission on public land first. ...

If md'ing is disallowed, sure. But if it's not disallowed, then I would no more "ask permission" for this, than I would think I need permission to pick my nose or skip stones on the pond.
 

If you have any highway rest area's close by, they aren't somewhere people would normally think of.I have one close to me and I have found a lot of clad there and it always replenishes itself, the spots I find the most are up close to trees or if there is a little bank with a view people will sit down and rest there and pockets spill coins or they put out a picnic blanket.I have found silver pendants and gold pendants out there also.Sometimes you will see a Parent throwing a ball with the kids so a good chance of a ring flying off.I also find a lot of foreign coins there also, so dig signals other than U.S. coin signals.
 

I have one to add: fireworks stands! New Year's is coming up, and the next few days after will be jackpot city! :hello2:
 

When there is no law against metal detecting on public property, no permissions are needed because you can't break a law that doesn't exist.
 

When there is no law against metal detecting on public property, no permissions are needed because you can't break a law that doesn't exist.

Nor do I construe laws about "alter", "deface" to apply to us. If we leave no trace of our presence (fill in our holes, stomp & fluff), then presto: Nothing alterED or defacED.

Will every last person on earth agree with those semantics ? Of course not. Ok, go at low-traffic times and avoid such busy-bodies. Problem solved .
 

I'll look more into the court house rules are very leanent around here I did hit the high school yesterday and did pretty good around 6$ in clad and still lots to go also got a couple pendants...

Thanks for all the advice!!
 

If md'ing is disallowed, sure. But if it's not disallowed, then I would no more "ask permission" for this, than I would think I need permission to pick my nose or skip stones on the pond.

And did I mention that "Tom in California" is crazy??
 

I'll look more into the court house rules are very leanent around here I did hit the high school yesterday and did pretty good around 6$ in clad and still lots to go also got a couple pendants...

Thanks for all the advice!!
That's a good haul! Schools are great, especially high schools. The kids are older, usually carry a little more money and jewelry as well. I bet that school will continue to give up some nice finds for awhile. Happy hunting....
 

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